‘Oil above $55 per barrel not to OPEC’s benefit’

Iran says the member states of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) will not benefit if oil prices increase beyond $55 per barrel.

Iran’s Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh was quoted by the domestic media as saying that if oil specifically surges above $60 per barrel, the non-OPEC producers would increase their production to benefit the most from rising prices.

Zanganeh emphasized that there would be a balance in the market as a result of a recent OPEC deal to cut production to limited quotas.

Such a balance would be created in the market in 2017, he was quoted as telling reporters after meeting the visiting Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak. “This would only happen if no strange thing happens in the market.”

Elsewhere in his remarks, the Iranian oil minister said that OPEC was determined to reduce its production and help manage the market.

Zanganeh added that non-OPEC producers, particularly Russia, would also keep their production as low as possible to prevent any fresh shock to the market. This, he emphasized, would benefit the producers and the consumers and would also provide a long-term energy security.

“This was for the first time in OPEC’s history that Russia cooperated with this Organization to help stabilize the market,” said the Iranian oil minister.

Last December, OPEC clinched a historic deal with Russia and other non-members to slash global production by nearly 1.8 million barrels a day for six months starting January.

The Organization exempted key member Iran from cutting output, allowing the country to increase its crude production by 90,000 barrels per day to reach pre-sanction output levels of 4 million barrels per day.